Miami Marlins Had the Second-Best Record in the National League During June

In a sad way, the Miami Marlins pretty stellar performance during the month of June only underscores how utterly horrible the team played during April and May. The Marlins' 14-9 record during June was actually the second-best record during the month in the National League (only behind the Padres), and the best in the NL East. However, even with that surprising performance the team is still stuck with the worst overall record in the entire MLB.

And even though the Padres put on a better performance during the month, the Marlins are leading them 2-1 in the four-games series that concludes tonight at Marlins Park. Maybe those $5 tickets are starting to look like an actual deal.

Over the past two seasons, June has been a month of misery for the Marlins. In 2011 and 2012, the team actually seemed like it was contending for a playoff spot during the early stretch of the season only to see things go completely off the rails in that month.

Though during this season, it seems like things have finally clicked. Giancarlo Stanton is finally back in action, and while young pitchers like Jacob Turner, Nate Eovaldi, Jose Fernandez and closer Steve Cishek are starting to come into their own. Two sweeps of both the Mets and the Twins proved, at the very least, that the team probably actually isn't the worst in the league talent wise right now.

Sadly, the team still has a lot of work to do to climb out of last place, but if they keep playing like this, it should only be a matter of time until they at least surpass Houston to climb out of baseball's worst slot. Maybe by the end of July they'll be in fourth place in the NL East. Fingers crossed.